Baltimore
by alice jonas
Summary: After Tony's ex-partner, Danny Price, appears to be the Port-to-Port Killer's latest victim, he revisits his days as a detective in Baltimore, including his first encounter with Gibbs. Ziva and McGee learn more about their SFA past. Slightly AU.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

As the chubby man lean forward against the counter starring into the microwave he could not help but think of how his life should have been different. He always knew he was going to end up alone. He wasn't the best looking man but he had always wanted to be a good man. He wanted to be a better man than his father. All his father ever cared about was money. Wanting to be different from his father he had become a cop. He did a good fore a while too. He became a cop and quickly moved up the ranks to being a homicide detective. He made friends and became partner with one of the youngest detective. They quickly became friends with their similar background. Like all things, life quickly changed.

As much as a baster his father was, he always made sure that they lived a life filled with the finest things money could afford. Living on a cop salary did not allow for the fine living that he was used to, so he became a dirty cop. He should have known better. His partner was too smart not to figure out what he had been doing.

Spending ten years in prison gave him a long time to think. He wanted a chance to make things better. He had a lot of work ahead of him because he had done a lot of wrong things to a lot of good people. He was hoping that he was taking a step forward in these plans by making the phone call to his ex-partner.

The beeping of the microwave pulled him from his thoughts. He quickly grabbed his TV dinner and went to the living room he set down his dinner and grabbed the remote to turn on the TV. After being in prison for so long, he realized that this was the finer living; not being surrounded by hundreds of angry men and not being watched every minute of every day. Nothing was better than having a nice cold beer.

He took a big gulp of beer and swallowed it down. He notice it's weird taste and his years as a detective kicked in. he took a sniff and know instantly that he had been drugged. He felt the panic in him grew. Things began to get fuzzy and he knew that he had to get to a phone fast. As soon as he stood up and try to take a step he fell on his hands and knees. He tried to crawl forward only to collapse. With his last once of strength tried to pull his body forward towards the phone that was when he heard the footsteps.

He first saw the mystery figure from the corner of his eyes. The figure moves toward the coffee table and takes the bottle of beer. The figure kneeled next to him and he saw the mystery person. As the person poured the beer into his mouth, all he could do was stared into his murder eyes. He knew this was the end for him and he had lost his chance at redemption. He wished now that his ex-partner would had shot him when he had the chance, at least then he could had died knowing that his death had brought some kind of closure.

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**AN: I got almost half the story written already and I already wrote a summary of how I want this story to go so I might be able to update this regularly. However I am looking for someone who can help me edit and give me feed back so anyone who like to help please PM me.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The day had not begun well for Tony. He had searched his entire apartment and his car for his lost cellphone. He could not find it anywhere and he hoped that he left it at work or one of his coworkers knew where it was. As soon as he gets off the elevator he walked over to the bullpen where Ziva and McGee were already at their desk working. "Hey guys, tell me you seen it."

"And good morning to you too Tony," Ziva said with her usual sash.

"It's the worst morning of morning." Tony reply as he quickly looking around his desk area. "My phone, tell me you seen it."

He walked toward McGee, knowing the techno-geek would be sympathic. True to his nature McGee responded, "Lost your phone. Ouch."

"Well you are a very capable investigator, why don't you just investigate." Ziva said with less sympathy than Tim.

"Yes!" Tony already knew this and Ziva sash wasn't helping. He grabbed his drawer out of his desk and dumped the contents onto the floor. He proceed to do the same with the second drawer when Gibbs walked by his desk. The senior field agent just stared at his boss, not saying a word as if he wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary.

Ziva deciding to be helpful tried to explain. "Tony is just—"

Gibbs cut her off. "I don't want to know."

He moved on to McGee and Tiny went back to his search for his phone. He caught bits of the conversation. Tony knew after working with Gibbs for ten years and McGee for eight, that Tim often get to technical and put too much detail in his report for their boss liking. After Tim explain what happened with the eye and hearing Tim tell their boss that it was being put on the back burner he knew it was time he jumped in.

"Agent Barrett and her team left for Hawaii last night following a new lead." Having given his input he went back to searching for his phone.

"Dinozzo!" Tony stopped and looked up at his boss. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I lose my phone. You haven't seen it?"

Gibbs rolled his eyes. He quickly unclipped his phone from his hip and tossed it to tony. "Here, use mine."

Tony felt the weight of it in his hand. It was so different from his own. "Wow, so heavy. I need a computer on it to program ringtone or else I won't know—" Tony did not get a chance to finish his sentence because the phone began to ring.

"Answer it." Gibbs said with a wave of his hand.

"Special Agent Gibbs' desk, Very Special Agent Di—" again Tony didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before the other person the line began to speak. "Oh hey. Where? Okay." Hanging up the phone Tony begins to explain the situation. "Dead guy at a navy log."

Tony tossed the phone back to Gibbs and grabbed his gear. Gibbs tried to hand back the phone but tony refused it. Gibbs rolled his eye. He would never understand why people needed the newest technology when the old one worked just as well.

* * *

Getting to the Navy Log and seeing the crime scene the team began working. Gibbs started with taking picture of the victim. Tony walked around the body inspecting it. "I guess the Port to Port Killer is back on the front burner."

Ducky held out the scissors toward McGee. "Agent McGee, if you would be so kind."

"Should I call Agent Barrett.?" Ziva offered.

"No." Gibbs said as he continued to take pictures.

"But it's her," Ziva gave Tony a look and Tony knew he shouldn't continue with that train of thought, "lost for not being in town."

Tony did not understand what Gibbs was so upset about. He liked EJ. When she first arrived they bonded over the Rota job. The position was original offered to him and because he had turned the job down EJ had received the promotion. Spending time with EJ helped him with the with ifs as he often wonder about what it would have been like if he had taken the promotion instead. He would spend hours listening to EJ recount her adventures in Spain. EJ was quickly becoming a trusted friend.

Gibbs still saw pass Tony little attempt to cover his slip of the tongue. "We don't even know what we are looking at yet DiNozzo."

"I know what we are not looking at. At his age there is no way this guy is a three star admiral." Having a father for an admiral McGee would have known.

"Well the Port to Port Killer is fond of dressing his victims in higher ranking uniforms." Ducky continue his observation of the victim as McGee continue cutting the wrap. Ducky pass the fortune cookie to Ziva to put in the evidence bag.

"Can't wait to crack that open," Tony joked hoping to get a slap on the back of the head. He had hoped that Gibbs would have already forgiven him for his EJ comment.

As Ducky and Tim talk about the time of death of the victim, it worried Tony. The killer knew when EJ and her Team left which meant that the killer was watching them. He worked many cases and his years as a cop, detective and finally as a federal agent he had not seen a smarter or most precise killer as the Port to Port Killer

"And for the grand finale," Ducky said bring Tony back to reality.

Tony got his camera ready to take the picture of the victim face. Ducky pulled the wrapper away and reveal a face from Tony past that he wish he never saw again. He hoped that he was mistaken. The light and the camera lenses had just made it look like him. Tony kneeled down to get a better look at the man. He looked different from the last time Tony had seen him but there was no doubting who he was. Tony didn't listen to ducky as he spoke more of his observations.

"Tony," Ziva said watching her partner carefully. "Is there anything wrong?"

"Yeah, I know him." Tony said not looking anywhere else but at the dead man in front of him.

As Gibbs heard Tony's comment and saw his indifferent face he took a look at the man himself.

"Who is he?" Tim asked curiously as he has never seen Tony this way before.

"He's my old partner." There were so many competing emotions going through him right now. The last time he had seen Danny, he had almost killed him. Tony had been so angry and would had killed him too if Gibbs had not step in to stop him. Now seeing him dead, Tony wasn't happy at the thought of his death at all.

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**AN: Please review and I'm still looking for someone to help me edit.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"As partners your very lives depended on each other. This builds a relationship of trust and respect with one another. Unfortunately you broke Antony trust and thus losing his respect. Despite this I would hate to be in your killer shoes." Ducky had never met the man who was now lying on his metal table. Ducky only know of what the man had done and how it had almost broke his friend.

"What you got Duck?" Gibbs asks as he and Tony walked into the room. He only half listen as Ducky told him information. Gibbs was more worry about Tony. Tony had not look at the body at all since coming into the room. He tried to look any but at the body. Gibbs had been there for the case that had led to the fall out between the two partners, ending with Danny in prison and Tony at NCIS. He knew how good things were and how quickly they had spiral to Tony almost shooting the man. "As to the significant to that, perhaps if I knew a little bit more about him."

"Um, we worked homicide together in Baltimore." Tony already knew that Ducky already knew this. Ducky had helped him out.

"So you've said. Did he have any naval experience?"

"He was in the reserves before he join the force." Gibbs answered for Tony. He had known, having had read both Tony and Danny file when they had worked together.

"I suppose Antony's relation with him is purely coincidental." Ducky of course knew it wasn't but he wanted to stay positive until all the facts were in.

"You want to bet?" Gibbs was not a man who believes in coincidence.

"Nothing I cared to lose." He turned to look at Tony. "Anything else you can tell me about him."

There were tons of things he could tell Ducky. Danny was his partner for two years and they had almost been like brothers. "Well, he came from money. Not that he saw very much of it. His dad wasn't around much. His mom died when he was a kid."

"So you and he had a lot in common." Yeah Tony knew this. He looked down at the dead man who was his old friend. He saw the scorpion tattoo and remember the first time Danny had shown it to him.

"Does it really go with the suit?" Tony asked.

"It's Armani." Tony just rolled his eyes at his partner. "I don't take fashion advise from a man who still wear tube socks."

"What's wrong with tube socks? They are very comfortable and they give me traction."

"Traction, for what?"

"Get off of me." Yelled an arrestee as he struggled to get the officers off him. He tried to make a break for. Tony just held his hand out to show Danny. Tony kicked his chair out into the way of the man causing the man to trip and fall flat on his face. His arresting officer grabbed him by his arm and took him off in the direction he came from.

"You didn't need tube socks for that." Danny said as if it was no big deal.

Again Tony just rolled his eyes. "A little help?" Some kick Tony's chair to him. Tony stood up and addressed the floor. "Everybody. I just want you to know that I'm a little disappointed. PCP addicts are Friday nights. It's Saturday night - which is Hooker night. Where are the hookers?"

As if the gods were listening two hookers walked in. "Hey Tony."

Tony could only smile back at the tall, dark skin woman. "I mean the Call Girls. Hey Sapphire."

"When's the big date?"

"Thanks for those Christmas decoration."

"No problem baby." Tony turned back to his desk but only to jump back in surprise.

"Detective DiNozzo, may I have a word with you?" command the short Asian woman. Despite her small frame and young age, Tony knew better than to not go on her bad side. That didn't mean that Tony didn't enjoy it a little bit.

"Not at all Assistant DA Kim. Tell me what I can do for your loveliness today."

"I would really appreciate it if you did not use your chair to stop an arrestee."

"No problem. Next time I will just shoot him."

The woman rolled her eyes. She knew that Tony was trying to bait her but she wasn't going to fall for it. "Go for it. Then it won't be my problem but internal affairs."

"Oh but then it would take away your excuse to come talk to me but just so you know, you can come over here to talk to me any time." Tony said with a wink. The woman just blushed and walked away. Tony knew his partner had been watching him. Tony was not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had gotten told by the short woman.

"Alright everybody." said the gray hair older man, getting everyone attention. He was holding a brown paper bag. "We finish the tally of this year station pool championship."

"Let me guess. That would be me." Tony said with the most confidence.

He turned around and gave Tony a pat on the shoulders. "As a matter of fact Antony it is."

Tony took his prize as the other clap at his accomplishment. "Thank you. Thank you Major and it is my second year in a row. It's a great honor."

"Enjoy." He said patting Tony on the back.

Tony looked at his prize. "Wow, a stapler. What is that?"

"Mighty Mouse."

"Mighty Mouse."

"I got it at a yard sale. It's all I can afford on my salary." Tony just laughed, not see the eye roll from Danny.

"It's very sweet of you Sir."

"Don't mention it. Second order of business, who got the Franklin homicide?"

"That's us." Tony pointed to Danny and him.

He turned back to Tony and gave him the folders. "Knock yourselves out."

"Thank you Major."

"What do we have?" Danny asked as he walked over to Tony's desk.

Tony quickly read the first page in the folder. "We got a hit on the prints we found at the murder scene. A Joseph Manheim, aka Joey Peanuts. I guess we should check it out."

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AN: Please review and I'm still looking for someone to help me edit.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"The Port to Port Killer didn't give up much to go on." As Abby list all the things that Port to Port Killer used and the dead in the search to find the buyer, she got a little depress. "Everything is the same, even down to the very knot that he use to tie the victim foots with. If our killer keeps walking in his own footsteps, we're never going to catch him."

"He won't. He'll make a mistake. They all do." As Gibbs look over all the evidence they have, he knew that killer already made his mistake. He had made things personal by going after someone they knew.

"I'm just wallowing in my own self-pity. He or she may have already made a mistake." Abby turn back to her desk with her laptop. Abby hand Gibbs the fortune cookie. "I open the cookie and shockingly there was a fortune inside. You don't have to strain. I already made my very own Gibbs version."

Gibbs smiled at what look like a fortune but it quickly dropped as he read the fortune. "Keep your friend close but your enemies closer."

Abby put down the fortune and go on her computer to show Gibbs what she found. "So the company that makes this particular cookie embeds it initial in the side of the dough. The DH is probably embossed on a cookie sheet."

"Who?"

"The logo belongs to Dao Huang Fortune Cookie Company in Baltimore. If the quote was random—"

"It was." Gibbs knew that this had been personal given who Danny had been.

"Then it had to be put in the cookie before it was folded or other ways I would have been able to tell. It means that it was put there by someone who had access to the kitchen."

"That's nice work Abs."

Now Abby was ready to get to the more disturbing news. "If the quote wasn't random, what does that mean?"

"Nothing good." Gibbs had always been honest with Abby and he wasn't going to lie to her now even if it made her feel better.

"What if the killer is trying to tell us that he is going to come after our friends? Tony knew the victim." Abby may had started at NCIS before Tony and only knew that Gibbs had recruited Tony.

"Not just Tony. I knew him too."

Danny sat in the car with the radio on while Tony was outside talking to an informant. Danny opened the fortune cookie and laugh after he read the little slip. Tony slip back into the car. "So what's the deal? It has been three hours."

"He said that Joey Peanut will show. He got a met or something." Tony grabbed his box of Chinese food and saw that it was empty. "You ate all my Moo-Shu."

"I don't see your name on it." Tony pointed to the box where his name was written on it. "Oh hey, I think this for you."

Tony looked at the fortune and laughed. "Love is for the lucky and the brave. Why is this for me?"

"Asking **_her_** out qualifies as brave in my book. She is one tough cookie."

"She ask me out remember. Besides I like a woman who is willing to make the first move." Tony said as he look out to see a man wearing a beany and hold a brief case. The man kept looking around as if he was looking for someone.

"See that is why you can dress like that," Danny said waving his hand up and down, gesturing to Tony's clothing. "But one of these days, your looks are going to run out."

"I plan to be safely married by then Danny."

"If not you might consider a new wardrobe." Tony turned to look at his partner. "Seriously with the right clothes you would be unstoppable."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Danny just ignored him. Something had caught his eyes. Danny grabbed the picture of the suspect just to be sure. "There's our boy, Joey Peanut."

Tony looked up and saw that he was walking up to the man wearing the beany. "You dress like my father. Let's go."

Tony and Danny got out of the car and walked normally. They did not want to spook either man yet Joey still spotted them. Joey started to make a move for it. "Crap. I got him. Stop! Baltimore PD!"

Tony and Danny started to run. Danny had gone after their suspect and Tony went after the man in the beany. "Freeze dirt bag. You can't outrun me, I'm wearing tube socks!"

Tony chased him into an empty lot. Tony tackled him onto the hard cement. The man let out a small groan. The man turned around and punched Tony in the face. Before the man could make another move Tony pulled out his gun. "I said freeze dirt bag."

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**AN: This story is moving kind of slow right now but only because I'm still setting it up everything right now. I will update this quicker just because it's moving so slow. It will get better soon. Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"All I'm saying is that maybe Tony is a little more upset about this than he is letting on."

"Yes but he and his partner haven't spoken in years. The man was also in prison for ten years."

"Well, let say you and I haven't spoken in years and I went to prison for hacking into the CIA. I get my throat slit by a serial killer."

"I would hunt them down and make them regret the day he was born. You're not just any old partner McGee."

Tim actually smiled a little. He was glad to be partner up with the ex-Mossad. "Neither is Tony."

Ziva saw his point. Despite what had happen between after Michael and in Tel Aviv, Tony had still gone to Somalia to get revenge on her supposed death. "Do you realize that we did not know much about Tony time as a detective in Baltimore?"

McGee thought about it for a while. "He tells story of his time in Peoria, and Philadelphia but nothing from Baltimore. All I know is that he got engage in Baltimore."

"I never knew that Tony's old partner was in prison until today."

"It must have been terrible for Tony find out that his partner of two year was a dirty cop." Hearing the ding of the elevator, McGee and Ziva turned to look at the new arrivals. Tony had follow Gibbs out of the elevator and into the bull pen. Gibbs look like his usual self and Tony had the same blank face on since they learned who today victim was.

"Tony and Ziva, I want you guys to go check out this Dao Huang Fortune Cookie Company and see what they know about this fortune cookie." Gibbs gave the cookie to Ziva as Tony grabbed his gun and badge from his desk. "McGee, I want you to find out everything about Danny Price since he has been out of prison."

Ziva had allowed Tony to drive to the restaurant. They had not spoken at all during the whole drive. Ziva had hope that by giving Tony some time he would be more willing to talk but her curiosity was getting the better part of her. "You never talk about your time in Baltimore."

"There isn't must to say."

"You never told us about your old partner." Ziva said as she tried to keep up with Tony. She could tell that this was effect Tony more than he was letting on.

"There isn't much to tell." Tony just kept on walking. He wanted to get this over with and put all the memory that came with this case behind him.

"Come on Tony, he was your partner for two years. You basically had each other life in the other hand. There must be something to say about him."

"No, there isn't."

"Tony, after what happen with Michael and everything I said, you were able to forgive me and save me. You are one of the most forgiving people I have ever known."

"This is different."

"How did you find out that your partner was a rusty cop?" Ziva purposely mess up the saying knowing that Tony wouldn't be able to resist correcting her. She hoped that this would lighten Tony up a little. After a moment and Tony did not answer her, she decided to change the subject. "Fine, tell me about your ex-fiancé."

"If it doesn't have to do with the case then I don't want to talk about it." Tony said with an edge to his voice.

"Come on Tony. I am your partner. Talk to me."

Tony knew that if he did not say anything Ziva would eventually follow him into the restroom the next time he goes to relief himself. She knew that confronting him in the restroom was when he was the most vulnerable. He stopped walking and turned to look at Ziva. "I'm only going to talk about this once and this is all I am willing to say on the subject. Danny was like family to me. What Danny did, using my trust and turning it against me was the worst thing anyone had ever done to me. What Danny did hurt everyone involved."

Ziva had never heard Tony spoke with such raw emotion before. She knew that what happen with Jeanne had hurt Tony greatly but now it just seem ten times worst. Ziva had to walk quickly to catch up with Tony as he walked into the store. They walk to the Russian man at the front counter. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I'm Very Special Agent DiNozzo with NCIS. This is my partner Agent David." Tony and Ziva held their badge up for the man to see.

"We are looking for Dao Huang."

"Well you found him?"

Ziva just looked at him skeptically. Tony voiced what they were both thinking. "Your name is Dao Huang?"

The man sighed. "Try looking at a map sometime. China is right next to Russia. My parents emigrated from Beijing. I was—"

"Okay enough with the historical geographic lecture. We get the point. Now we have a few questions for you."

Ziva took out the fortune cookie out of breast pocket. She handed it over. "Can you identify these?"

"Look like one of mine." He took out a cookie sheet and pointed to the embed initial in the cookie sheet. "I bake it in but the coloring is all wrong and that is not one of my saying. This cookie is a fake."

"Do you have any employee who could I made it?"

"No, I do all the printing myself. Where did you get this cookie?"

Ziva took the cookie back from him. "We found it at a crime scene."

"It could have been made from one of the tray taken in the robbery." This was might not be such a dead end after all, Tony thought. If they found out who robbed the fortune company they might caught their killer. "About five weeks ago some broke in. They took my safe and some equipment."

Ziva was actually glad to hear this. They might just have a lead to catch the Port to Port Killer. "Do the police have any suspects?"

"They took a report, some evidence and the ate half a case of cookie." He shrugged. "I'm not expecting much."

"Maybe we can take another look at it."

"Well, it's confirmed. He is a navy cop." Tony said as he got off the phone. "Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

"Opp. We're sorry." Danny said as he uncuffed him. "Maybe next time you remember your identification."

"You don't do a lot of undercover work do you?"

"Do you?" Tony said quickly jumping to his partner defense. "You just got arrested."

"I let you arrest me." Gibbs would never admit it to the man but he was impressed. Perhaps Gibbs did run slower to let the man catch him but he didn't think the young man was going to catch up to him so quickly.

"Let?" Tony laughed as if he was joking. "I chased you half a block and I had you like a lion on his next meal. Am I wrong?"

"No." Danny said backing his partner up. Gibbs just smirked and let them think whatever they wanted to think.

"What am I supposed to call you, Special Agent Leroy?" Tony looked at his partner and shook his head. "Jethro, no, it's a little Beverly Hillbillies." Tony could see that the man was getting annoyed. "Gibbs it is I guess." Tony grabbed a file from his desk and handed it to Gibbs. "We're working a homicide. Joey Peanut is at the scene. We think he is our guy."

"What is your beef with him?"

"Got a tip, someone was using a navy payroll to laundry money. Haven't id him yet." Gibbs said as he looked over their case.

"You think that Joey works for him?"

"That's right." Gibbs said closing the case file.

"As some kind of carrier?"

"That's right." Gibbs said throwing the file back down on Tony's desk.

"So you put on a funny hat and filled a briefcase with some cash. You give the cash to Joey and he gives the dirty doe to his boss. You follow the trail and make the bust."

"That was the plan until you screwed it up."

The two men laughed at his accusation. Tony did not like being accused of messing up an operation. "Me? You listen here. You were the one who didn't tell the department that your N. C. I. S. was running an opt."

"Or read our dispatch. We had a bolo on Joey for two days."

"I know."

"You knew? Then what the hell were you doing running around, risking—" then it dawn on him. Gibbs just smiled at Tony. "Really? You wanted to get arrested. We didn't screw up anything for him. You're a new face on the street. The best way to guarantee a way in was by getting pinched. A navy guy. I don't like getting played, having said that well played."

Gibbs threw away the cup of coffee that he just got after only taking one sip of it. Tony understood. He didn't like the department coffee much either. He only drank it when he really needed it.

"But we are done with games. Joey is our witness." Danny said after watching the two men interact.

"I know. I'm undercover remember." Gibbs' gut told him that something wasn't right with this man. On a detective's salary he should be able to afford such a nice suit, however, he actually kind of like the younger detective. In his brief interaction with him, Gibbs saw that he wasn't all muscle but that he actually was a very capable investigator as he quickly recognized his plan unlike the man's partner.

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**AN: review!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Gibbs looked at the picture that the Baltimore police sent over on the robbery as Ziva and Tony explain what happen. "The robbery at the bakery happened five weeks ago."

"The thief kicked in the door."

"Took off with the safe."

"Other than that, nothing. No finger prints. No foot prints. No physical evidence at all."

"That is the Port to Port Killer M.O" Tim pointed out.

"Got any witnesses?" Gibbs asked Tony.

"Sort of, police report list a cracked out junkie witness a car leave the scene."

Gibbs looked around for his glasses. He hated those darn things. He used to be a sniper with perfect vision. Now he needed glasses. "Where are my glasses?"

"Didn't get a plate, just the make and model. Police didn't put out a bolo, didn't think that it was reliable."

"DiNozzo," Gibbs said and Tony knew what he was supposed to do with the tone of his boss voice.

"Bolo, I got it."

"Ziva."

"Got it. I will track down the junkie and see if I can get any more information."

"McGee, what do you have for me?"

"Since Price got out of prison he moved back into his old apartment. Apparently someone has been paying for his place while he was severing his time. He works at a diner as a bust boy. Nothing much except that a Linda Kim got a restraining order out on him recently. She was the woman who he assaulted."

"McGee, get her work place and we'll go interview her."

"Boss, I don't think she has anything to do with this. We know who the killer is." This surprised McGee and Ziva. In all the time that they have been part of the team they had never seen Tony question Gibbs before. Of course McGee was there for when Tony had said no to Gibbs after they all thought that Ziva had died.

"Rule number 8." Gibbs said in his same even tone.

"Never assume. Always check for yourself." McGee as he walked out from behind his desk. Tony just gave McGee a glare that could almost be as scary as Gibbs.

Gibbs just kept his eyes on Tony. He just walked up to Tony's desk never breaking eye contact. "Do I need to take you off this case?"

"No, Boss."

"Can you keep this case from getting personal?"

"Whatever happened happen a long time ago." Hearing this, Ziva and McGee look at each other seeing the same question look. They had always thought that there SFA was an open book but this case just showed them just how little they actually know.

Tim quickly followed Gibbs to the elevator leaving Tony and Ziva alone. "So did you know her well?"

"I'm not going to talk about it with you Zee-va" Tony said stretching out her name out of annoyance.

"I am your partner and we are a team. If we are going to catch this murder then McGee and I need to know everything; unless you don't want to catch the killer?"

Tony slam down a file on his desk. "Don't you have a junkie to track down?"

Ziva knew her partner well enough. She was not going to get any more out of him.

After talking to Joey, they came to the conclusion he did not committed the murder, however they had got him to agree to wear a wire. Hopeful they could get his Boss to confess to the murder as well as to identify him to see if he has any tie to the navy. The case was getting close to it end and Tony couldn't wait to be done with the navy cop.

"We need to talk." Danny said as he took pictures of across the street.

"Hold on one second." Tony pulled out the walkie-talkie. "Testing, one, two, three. Can you hear me over there from the Joey Peanut gallery?"

"Yeah, I can hear you. Very funny." He said pacing back and forth nervously.

"Now, listen. I want you to drop off the bag with your boss and get him to cough up to the murder. Then you Joey Peanut do five years of community service if you're lucky."

"Thanks."

"No, thank you Joey." Tony put down the walkie-talkie and turned to his partner. "Alright, what is it?"

Danny held out a little black box in front of Tony. He recognized it instantly. "This fell out of your jacket." Just smile and took it out of his partner hand. "You planning to propose or something."

"As a matter of fact I am." Tony said with a grin.

"What? You two have only been dating for a little while."

"I know but we've known each other for two years now. Being with her has made me the happiest I've ever been. I don't want to wait any long before making her my wife. She is something special."

Danny just looked at his partner and in the time that they have worked together, he had never seen Tony this happy before. "Okay, congrats. You are one lucky man."

"Thanks."

Danny and Tony went back to watching Joey. Danny spotted the other man first. "We got company." Tony put on the head phones so he could hear what was being said between Joey and their new suspect as Danny took more pictures. "Civilian clothes."

"Military haircut and shoe." Tony knew because he had that haircut when he was always at bordering school. As soon as he had gotten out, he had allowed for his hair to grow out. He also that having long hair attracted the women better than the short military cut. His girlfriend certainly love running her hand through his hair. Tony had also spent time during bordering school, spit shining shoes. "How did we end up doing the navy cop's job for him."

"Because he is smarter than us."

"More devious maybe, I don't know about smarter." Danny could almost hear the admiration in his partner voice.

"I actually like him."

"Who wants to be a navy cop? I would rather have the plague."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Gibbs and McGee waited in small office the sectary had escorted them into. Tim looked around the office, seeing the frames of diplomas hang on the wall. He looked at the books on the shelves all along the wall. He was surprised to see that not all the books were law books.

"Hey, she has my book." McGee turned and saw that Gibbs was giving him a stern look. He continued looking around and didn't see much of anything personal. There weren't even any pictures on her desk.

"Gibbs," said the short Asian woman as she walked into the room to get the two man attention.

"Linda." Gibbs addressed the woman by her first name.

McGee drank in the woman appearance. She had long black hair that was pulled back into a pony tail, showing her round face with high cheek bones. Everything about her was just so small except she had all the curves in all the right places. In his opinion she was really cute. McGee wondered what the connection between her and Tony. The conversation between Tony and Gibbs had indicated that they had known each other personally. Having met her, Tim wondered how personal their relationship was given that she seemed to be Tony's type.

"I'm Special Agent McGee. We are with—"

"NCIS, I know." She rolled her eyes. "What can I do for you navy cops today?"

"We have a few questions for you." McGee answered when Gibbs did not say anything.

Linda sat behind her desk while McGee and Gibbs took the chairs across from them. "What would this be regarding?"

"Danny Price."

McGee watched as she took a deep breath and let it out. "What about him?"

"He was found murder."

"And?" Linda asked as if they had just told her the sky was blue.

"You don't seem remorseful at all over his death." She leaned in towards McGee.

"Agent McGee, he broke into my home. He tied me up and he beat me. My mother cried when she saw me. He cost me everything. So I'm going to be honest with you, I'm glad he is dead. I think Agent Gibbs already know this. So let me ask you, am I a suspect in this investigation?" She asked with fierceness that McGee would not have expected from her.

"As of now you are not a suspect. Like I said thought we do have a few questions for you."

"What would you like to know?"

"Why did you get a restrain order against Mr. Price?"

"After he got out of prison he kept showing up to my apartment building and at my work place."

"Did you know what he wanted?"

"He said that he just want a few minute alone with me to talk."

"Did you talk with him?"

"There is a restraining order against him. Do you think I talk to him?"

McGee was getting was beginning to get fluster. "When was the last time you seen or heard from him?"

"It was the day before I took the restraining order out. He showed up here and like always I just ignore but when I had come back from lunch that day I saw that he had left. I finally just had security throw him out of the building. I talked to a judge and got the restraining order. I think he finally got the message and left me alone."

"Are you sure?" Gibbs asked, speaking for the first time since the interview began.

"Yes, and if that is all I would like to get back to work."

Gibbs and McGee got up to go. Gibbs stopped as he got to door. "I would also like to warn you to be careful. The killer seemed to be making this personal."

Linda gave a small chuckle. "I'm no one to Tony, Gibbs. I'm sure you know that."

McGee looked between Gibbs and Linda. They both had a blank emotionless face. McGee could see why she was DA. McGee knew that there was more to this than what Tony and Gibbs was telling them.

Tony and Danny sat in Major Frank Raimey's office, listening to the tape of Danny and the suspect. "It's all there, fifty grand."

"That is more than what I make in a year." Raimey said as he pushing Tony's feet off his desk. Danny just rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry about it. I took care of it permanently." Tony turned it off. He was ready for the next step.

"It would be nice to have ballistic tying him to the murder but it sounds like a confession to me. Why didn't you bring him in?"

"Agent Gibbs wanted to id him first. Didn't want to spook him incased he wasn't working alone."

"It doesn't matter. We put a tail on him. We are going to get our own id before this guy even—" Tony didn't get to finish his sentence before his phone rang, checking his phone to see that it was the navy guy.

"Let me know." The Major said as he handed Danny over the file.

Tony answered his phone as they walk out. "What do you got?"

"His name is Lieutenant Ian Floyd."

"Hold on." Tony said as he tried to get his notepad out so he can write down the name. Danny handed him a pen.

"Name is Lieutenant Ian Floyd. He is a disposing officer at a navy payroll in Quantico."

"That is the perfect position to laundry money."

"Did he get any help?" Danny asked.

They could hear another phone ringing coming from the other side. "Do you need to get that?"

"No, it's my wife. And no it doesn't look like he got any help but this seems too big for one man to run."

"We should check when ballistic on the weapon going to be done."

"Done."

Tony could hear the smirk on the other man face through the phone. "I don't think so."

"I had the evidence transfer here. The weapon was a Walter P99. Floyd has two register to him. Pick him up."

Tony was annoyed with the man. Who was he giving them order? "First of all that was our evidences, second of all if we just transfer you—"

There was another phone ring from the other side. "I have to get this one."

"Is that your wife again?" Danny just chucked at Tony's comment.

"My divorce lawyer," Gibbs said before hang up the phone on them.

"We've been waiting for ballistic for a week and I can't help but agree with Gibbs. I don't think Floyd can run this all by himself." Danny just shrugged. "Getting divorce, explain a lot about him. Hopefully I never end up like him."

"Pacci, do you have the other I asked for." Gibbs asked as he put his lawyer on hold.

"Yeah, I got Detective DiNozzo personal file right here." Gibbs nodded his thanks. "Do you need anything else from me? I'm going to head to the infirmary. My stomach is going to be the death of me."

* * *

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	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Ziva walked back up the bullpen where Gibbs and McGee was already seat at their desks as well as Tony. Tony was just working diligently and given whom the victim was it was understandable but this just seemed different to Ziva. Having been working with Tony for six years she didn't know why it still amazes her when Tony showed them a different side to him. Every time she thinks she was beginning to get to know the real Tony, he always showed her that she isn't done learning about him just yet.

"Well that was a waste of time." Ziva said sitting down at her desk. "He had nothing useful to add to his statement." Ziva watched her partner for any reaction but he just kept working on whatever was on his computer.

Before Gibbs could say anything else Vance walked in with a tall, handsome man in a suit. McGee hope that it wasn't the man wasn't FBI. Usually if they had to deal with the FBI that wasn't Fornell, it usually does go well. Given whom the victim was and who the victim was related to, this was not going to go well if they tried to take over the case. McGee turned to look at Tony and was surprised. Tony had his jaw lock and was glaring at the man and the man returned the glare in return. "Tony."

"Will." Tony said with such bitterness that Tim and Ziva had never heard before.

Vance just raised his eye brows at the two men. "This is William Moseley. He is Ms. Kim's attorney. He has a few concerns."

"Given Agent DiNozzo personal relationship with the victim and my client, I think there could be some conflict of interest. I don't DiNozzo can conduct this investigation professionally."

Tony narrowed his eyes at Will. "I don't think you are here on Linda's behalf. If she had concern about the way I investigate, she would come tell me herself."

"Are you sure about that considering how things ended between the two of you?" Will said with a smug smile on his face.

Tony stood up and looked like he was ready to bash his smug smile off his face. Vance put a hand out to stop Tony. "Agent DiNozzo, what is your relationship with Ms. Kim?"

Tony looked down at the ground, refusing to look anyone in the eye. "She is my ex-fiancé.

Tony sat on the couch not really paying attention to the movie his fiancé had picked for them to watch. A piece of popcorn hit him between the eyes. He turned to look at his fiancé. It was moments like this that made him love her so much. This was the side of here that not many people get to see. She had her long dark hair down, so different from when she had her hair up when she's working. She was only wearing one of his Ohio State shirt and a pair of his boxer. She was almost carefree when she wasn't working. "Tell me what is on your mind."

"Nothing, let's just get back to the movie."

This just prompts Linda to put the movie on pause. "We can get back to the movie if you can tell me the main character's name."

Tony turned to look at the TV for a second and tried to come up with a name. "Michelle."

"No, it's Sofia. Now tell me what is on your mind and I know something is on your mind. Is it about the money laundry case you are working on?"

"I mean all the evidence point to Floyd being the murder but my gut is just telling me that there is something more going on."

"Are you sure that it's your gut and just not gas. I mean given how you eat, I wouldn't be surprise that your stomach is upset."

She always somehow managed to make him smile. "It may be upset due to the horrible movie you picked out."

Linda ran her hair through his hair. "Well, what is your gut telling you?"

"It's tell me that Floyd isn't the ring leader in this. Agent Gibbs said he thinks this too big for Floyd to pull off on his own."

"Gibbs is the navy cop you were telling about right?"

Tony nodded his head. "Yeah and he seem to be really good at what he does."

"And so are you. What does Danny think?"

"Danny thinks Floyd is a smart man and could have easily pulled this off himself."

"Well if your gut is telling you to go with agent Gibbs on this then maybe you should. If it leads you nowhere then it goes nowhere and no harm done. On the off chance that your gut is right then you could be bringing down a large laundry thief."

"I thought that you lawyer don't like gut feeling because they won't hold up in court."

"Well, I'm sure my hero cop will be able to charm the jury to seeing thing his way.

Tony kissed her gentle on the lips. "You always know what to say to me."

"Now I have something I need to tell you." Linda said in between kisses.

"I'm all ears." Tony said as his hand slid under her shirt.

Tony never got to hear what Linda had to say. Three men with ski mask with guns busted through the front door. Tony tried to grab his gun but he had put it away in the box on the table stand by the door. Tony put a protective arm over Linda and was thankful that he was between her and the other man. One of the men moved to grabbed Tony but Tony took a swing at the man. One of the other man tackled Tony onto the ground while the other one grabbed Linda. One of the man pushed Tony face down while the other one hand cuff him. The other one shoved Linda onto the ground.

"Stay away from her." Tony said trying to get out of the cuff. The third attack punched Linda in the face. Tony struggled harder against the men as he saw her lip begin to bleed. "Enough," said the second attacker, stopping the third attacker. He walked over to Linda as the second attacker held Tony down. The third attacker pushed up his sleeve up. He grabbed Linda by her hair. The first attacker bended down to be eye level with Linda, he put his gun in Linda's face. He turned to look at Tony. "Drop your pursuit on Floyd or next time you will watch me shot her in her pretty face."

Linda spat at him. "Coward."

The third attacker slammed his gun across her face. He then cocked his gun and put the barrel of the gun again Linda's head. The first attacker slammed Tony hard against the ground as to keep him from struggling too hard. Before he could pull the trig, the third attacker began kicking Linda in the abdominal several times. Linda moved her arms in front of stomach as she if she was protecting in.

"I think the bitch learned her lesson." The third attacker said in a rough gravel voice. Three men quickly left as quickly as they came, leaving Linda curl up in ball and Tony struggling to get out of his cuff.

"I called off the engagement after the attack."

Ziva and Tim had never heard of why he had broken up with his fiancé. They had always assumed it for other reason, given Tony's immaturity, and his playboy repetition. Tim could only imagine the guilt Tony must have felt. He knew Tony often tend to blame himself for things that were not his fault. He had seen Tony blame himself for Kate's death, for not having seen the sniper. He had blamed himself for Paula death, for not having been fast enough. He blamed himself for hurting Jeanne, although he had indeed fallen for her and been manipulated by the Jenny. He had blamed himself for Jenny death, for having followed her orders. Tim could see Tony blaming for his fiancé's attack.

Ziva understood the anger that Tony must have felt. She still felt angry whenever she thought about her sister. She had not been able to protect her sister. Tony's fiancé had been target because of him. She had been beat to send him a message. Tony had been unable to protect the woman he had love.

Vance was a little taken aback by this new information. He had been unaware of Tony's previous engagement. He had always though that the man was a flirt and immature frat boy that never grew up. Perhaps it was time to read his agent field.

"Given that Agent DiNozzo was the one who broke up with Ms. Kim, I do not think this is a conflict of interest. Agent DiNozzo was also the arresting office for Mr. Price. Ms. Kim is not even a suspect at the moment. You can have my word that Agent Gibbs, as team supervisor, will also make sure that Agent DiNozzo will remain professional. He will pull Agent DiNozzo off this case if it gets to personal." Vance said the last part more toward Tony than Will.

"As long as I as your word Director."

"I will escort you out." Vance said, already leading Will towards the elevators.

Tony sat back down, getting back to work on whatever was on his computer. Tim and Ziva had so many questions they wanted to ask Tony. They wanted to ask Gibbs. In all the years they worked together, they had never asked how Gibbs had come to recruited Tony. They all knew how Ziva got on the team. She had asked about how McGee had become a member of team Gibbs. Hell, Tim even told her how Kate was recruited.

Each member had been so lose in pretending to be working that they did not hear the ping of the elevator announcing their new visitor. He cleared his throat loudly to get their attention. "I just received an email from Abby, alarming me of an oversight. It seems there was a minor error in one of my internal reports five weeks ago."

"What kind of error?" Gibbs asked.

"As you know the Port to Port Killer secure his victim feet with rope. The specific knot is called the double constrictor knot."

"Double? I thought it was a plain constrictor knot." Ziva quickly input into the conversation.

"Well that is the error. Mr. Palmer managed to leave out the word double when he subscribed my notes. I have suitable lecture him about it but I—" Gibbs cut him off.

"It's a typo. Just fix it Doc." He did not need to hear any more of the older man's story. He had a case that he needed to get back to.

"Jethro," Ducky said getting the man's attention. "The knot on our latest victim feet was a single constrictor. It's almost as if someone is using my notes, typo and all to duplicate the murders. I know that detail can change for several reasons but given the Port to Port killer almost pathological need for consistence, I could only think of one in this case."

"It's not the Port to Port Killer." Gibbs said what they were all thinking.

"We have a copycat and one who has access to our internal records." Ducky said giving them even more bad news.

"How did he get access?"

"I'm doing a system wide check analyst." McGee said hoping to find something soon so that they can put this case behind them.

"Unfortunately this means our psych elevation is worthless. We have very little to go on."

"The real Port to Port Killer knew how to cover his track."

"Maybe this one didn't." McGee jumped in, seeing where his Boss had meant. "We might be able to trace one of his purchases back to him."

"McGee and Ziva, go update Abby. Run it all." Ziva and McGee quickly caught up with Ducky as he got into the elevator.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs wanted Tony's attention. He had not spoken at all since Vance had left with Will. "Talk to me."

This actually surprised Tony. Tony had called his boss on several occasions a functional mute. Having him tell Tony talk was almost ironic. Gibbs knew what Tony was thinking. However, Gibbs could swear that the young man can make him run for the money about being the mute person on the team. "About what?"

"Are you okay?" Tony had always wanted to know that his boss cared. Gibbs had been there. Gibbs had seen him fall apart.

"I'm fine." Tony could see that Gibbs wanted to head slap him but had restrain himself given the seriousness of the situation. "This has nothing to do with that. Ancient history."

It shouldn't surprise Gibbs as much. He had not been able to talk about Shannon and Kelly and Tony had not been able to talk about Linda after all these years. "I know but it doesn't make things any easier."

"I'm fine." Tony said again hoping that at least one of them would actually believe it this time. "I'm more worry about there being another killer other there. Now we have to catch two killer and we can't protect everyone."

"We protect them by catching the killer. Same as you did before."

* * *

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	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Ducky, you and Abby have worked with Tony longer than both McGee and I. Did you know about Tony's fiancé?"

Ducky nod his head gravely. "I had the pleasure of meeting her briefly before Antony called off the engagement."

* * *

Gibbs got out of the car and Ducky did the same. He noticed the nice brownstone home and would never have guessed that Tony would live in such a place. However, he had also had not known that Tony was engaged with the assistant DA. He had walked over to where he saw the young detective.

Tony held the ice pack to Linda's face. He gentle ran his hand in her long dark hair. He looked into her dark eyes and could tell that the little smile on her was only for his benefit. "I'm so sorry."

"Hey, I told you to stop that. I'm going to be okay."

"Detective DiNozzo," as Gibbs got closer he could see that Tony did not have a scratch on him. It was too bad that the same thing couldn't have been said about the woman on the stretcher. Half her was already black with a giant bruise and her lip had finally stop blooding but was twice it normal size. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. The woman I love was beaten right in front of me and I couldn't do anything to stop it but I'm fine."

"Tony," Linda said almost scolding. She groaned a little.

"Do you mind if I took a look?"

"Who are you?" Tony asked, finally seeing the older man

"Donald Mallard but you can call me Ducky. I'm an ME at NCIS but I had many years of training as a doctor." Ducky explain as he began to exam Linda. "It seems like you have some pretty bad bruises and laceration."

Ducky began feeling her abdominal when Linda groan in pain. "Okay, I think that is enough Ducky."

"Yes, when she gets to the hospital, they can do more tests but she should be fine."

"How can she be fine? She was just beaten," said the new arriver.

"Will, I'm okay." Linda said sheepishly.

Will pushed Tony to the side and grabbed ahold of Linda's hand. "What the hell happened? Why didn't you protect her Tony?"

Tony balled his hand in a fist. He wanted to punch the man in his face but the man had asked a fair question. He should have protected her. He should have done more. "Will, Tony isn't to blame for this."

"It's time for us to get Ms. Kim to the hospital to get checked out." said one of the paramedics.

Tony kissed her on the forehead. "You're going to be fine."

"I know. You go and catch the bad guy and be my hero cop." Linda said as she knew he needed to catch the men who did this instead of being with her at the hospital. She understood.

"I don't want you to be alone."

"Will can stay with me."

"I'm not going to leave you."

"That is why you are my best friend. I'm sure Ducky can be tag along too since Agent Gibbs is going to be helping you."

Ducky smiled at the Asian woman. "Would love to accompany you. I have a few doctors that owe me some favorites. I will make sure you have the best medical care."

"You are already my favorite doctor Ducky."

Tony just watched as they load Linda up in the ambulance and Ducky getting in with them. Will was following them in his car. Danny came up to them as the ambulance pulled away. "Tell me you have Floyd in custody."

"The office lost tracked of him an hour before you were attack."

Tony let out a scream of frustration. "You guys better hope you find this guy before I do.

* * *

"It's so sad how Tony and his old partner drifted so far apart."

"Well, he was imprisoned for assaulting Tony's fiancé."

"McGee, you went with Gibbs to interview her. How was she like?" Ziva asked.

"You met Tony's fiancé?" Abby said excitedly. When she had first meet Tony she had liked him instantly. He was funny and had quickly become her best friend and almost like a brother. She had never asked Tony about his fiancé because she had known that whatever had happen hurt him greatly.

"Yes, I met her briefly. She was really attractive like most of the girls Tony seem to brag about having been with. However, if her degree meant anything then she was also very smart unlike the women Tony brag about. She got her political science degree from Stanford and graduated top of her class from George Town."

Abby turned to look at McGee and Ziva. "Did you do a background check on her?"

"No, whatever it is." Gibbs said as he walked into the lab. "What do you got for me Abby?"

"Suspects and a lot of them," Abby answered. "The last actual Port to Port killing, I was able to track the suppliers of the items he used but I wasn't able to track it back to the killer. He was really careful to disguise his purchases. So to find the copycat we are analyzing publicly available tax recite, looking for anyone who bought three or more items in the Port to Port killer tool box."

"Okay, how many?"

"Twenty six so far and we aren't even half way through." Abby said sounding kind of tired.

Gibbs looked through the photo of suspect that Abby had up. Gibbs pointed to the picture of the man on the third roll in the third column. "That is our guy."

"You know this because?" McGee asked almost skeptical.

"He was at the crime scene."

"Okay let me run facial recognition on our crime scene photos." McGee said as he pulled up the photos.

"There," Gibbs pointed to the fourth picture to a man. The computer showed a match to the man Gibbs had identified as their possible killer.

"Boss, he is a computer tec. He could have hacked our system and got Ducky's report."

"How on earth did you—"

Gibbs already knew what Abby was going to ask. "Rule number 38."

Abby and McGee looked at each other nodded their head. "Always watch the watchers."

* * *

Tony had worked all night. He had used all his resources by calling in favors and paying off street thugs. Danny had found a lead. Unfortunately Floyd had seen Tony before he could arrest him. Tony had chased after him into an alley.

Floyd knew that he wasn't going to able to out run Tony and Tony knew he knew. Tony also knew that he was desperate. Tony pulled out his gun out just as Floyd pulled his out. "We don't have to do this. It can end well for the both of us."

"Is that a Walter P99? Thanks, now we don't have to look for the murder weapon."

"We can both walk out of here."

"You are not walking out of here." Tony almost growl.

"I'm serious about this."

"So are we." Danny said as he and Gibbs.

"So that is how it's going to be." Floyd said not taking his eyes off Danny.

"Nice timing." Tony said taking Floyd gun.

Danny shrugged, holding Floyd. "Better late than never."

It took Danny by surprised when Tony punched Floyd. To Gibbs, it seemed all too similar to him. "Did you think I was really going to let you go after what you did to my girl?"

Danny let Floyd go. "Tony, you can't do this."

"You having men break into my home and beat my fiancé. You threaten to kill her and think I would just let you go." Tony punched the Floyd again.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Don't lie to me." Tony move to punch Floyd again but someone had grabbed onto his arm. "Let me go."

"Hey, I understand how you feel to want vengeance against the man that hurt the person you love but why would he lie to you about it. We said that this laundry ring couldn't end with Floyd. Whoever broke into you house last night must have been scared that you wouldn't stop looking even with Floyd arrested."

This however did not quench Tony's anger. Tony pointed his gun at Floyd again. "Tell me who your partners are."

Floyd just shook his head. "I'm more scared of what they will do to me than anything you can."

"Don't," Gibbs said. He could see that Tony was ready to pull the trigger. "Think about this. Would Linda want you to kill Floyd in cold blood? You are her hero cop. She is a lawyer who put criminals away. You put criminals away. Do you really want to become as bad the people you and she put away?"

Tony slowly lowered his gun.

* * *

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	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Let's hope our copycat is home." Tony said as they all got into position. "NCIS!" Tony didn't really give them time to open the door. He kicked in the door using his pent up anger from the last few days. "Hands up in the air. Peter Sears you are under arrest."

"For what? I didn't do anything." He said as he steps away from the body wrapped in plastic wrap. Tony pushed him up against the wall and began to cuff him. McGee quick began checking the victim. Ziva began checking the rooms. Gibbs looked around the room seeing all the posting of the Port to Port Killer.

"You have the right to remain silent or I can shut you up myself."

"Take it easy DiNozzo." Gibbs said turning his back to Tony.

"You also have the right to an attorney so they can tell you that you weren't hugged enough as a child."

"Boss, we have a problem." Tony and Gibbs turned to look as McGee pulled off the plastic wrap off a manikin.

* * *

Tony walked into the hospital room. Ducky was sitting down next to Linda as she was asleep. "Where is Will?"

"He got a phone call saying that Floyd was arrested so he went to go deal with the paper work."

Tony sat down in the chair on the other side of Ducky. He took her small hand in his large hand. "How is she doing?"

"She is in less pain now with the pain medication."

"Thank you Dr. Mallard for being here,"

"It is no problem my dear boy. And please call me Ducky."

"Thank you Ducky." Tony pushed back the hair from her face.

"I'll give some privacy." Ducky said, getting up to leave the young couple alone.

Tony brought her hand to his lips. "You can stop pretending to be asleep now. It is just you and me."

Linda's eye slowly fluttered open. I had a very nice nap. Ducky is a quite a story teller. You should have him tell you about the time he and Agent Gibbs were on the run. From the sound of it, having Gibbs have your back is a great thing."

"I will make sure I hear that story now."

"I feel bad for pretending to fall asleep on Ducky but there is only so many stories you can listen to before falling asleep."

Tony gave a small chuckle. "I'm sure he understands. Did they call your family already?"

"Yeah, they called when I brought in and I called again after they checked me out. My mom and my oldest brother are on the first flight out here."

"Well, the way you talked about your family, I'm a little surprise they all didn't fly out here. You are the baby of the family after all." Tony said teasingly. Tony had heard her complain enough time about how much she hated being the youngest of seven children.

"They would have come if our mom allowed them too. They all still have work and family to take care of so my mom told they couldn't come."

"Well, I'll meet them at our wedding."

"So did you get the bad guy?" Linda asked with a small yawn.

"We caught up with Floyd. He denied knowing anything about…" Tony did.

"Well, you know how criminals are." Linda said, trying to stop Tony from thinking.

"Gibbs doesn't think that Floyd is lying about not knowing. Gibbs thinks it might be the guys he is working with. Floyd won't tell me their name."

"I'm not to worry about it right now. I know that you'll catch those guys who broke into our house and find whoever is in charge."

Tony kissed her forehead, "I'm so so—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence."

"It's not your fault. This is Floyd and his buddies fault." Linda let out another little yawn. "I should probable tell you this before I forget. The Major came by to take my statement. I forgot to mention this detail. The one who kicked me, when he pushed up his sleeve I could kind of see a tattoo. I could tell that he put on makeup to try and hide it but I could still see it. On his wrist there was a scorpion."

Tony squeezed Linda's hand tighter. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Tony stood up and kiss Linda on the forehead again. "You go back to sleep. The next time you wake up all the bad guys will be put away."

"I love you." Linda said as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

"I love you too."

* * *

Tony hoped that he could put this behind him and everything that this case has brought forth to mind. Having interview the creep, Tony gut was telling him that he hadn't murder Danny.

"Sears alibi checks out. He's an IT consultant but works part time as a birthday clown. He was twisting balloon animals at the time price was being killed." Ziva said as she hung up the phone.

"We still need a lead."

"I think I have that." McGee said as he walked into the bullpen. "The Ohio state police just arrested two men for grand larceny. One of them want to make a plead barging, said that he has some information on a robbery at the fortunate cookie company in Baltimore."

"Call the prosecutor."

"On it," Ziva said getting back on the phone.

"I went through Sears's laptop as well. I know how he learned about the constrictor knot and it's not from an NCIS file."

"Where?" Gibbs asked impatiently.

"Right before Barrett left for Hawaii, she issued an update on the Port to Port Killer profile to all law enforcement in the local area. This included Palmer's typo. Sears stole a copy while he was doing IT work at a police station."

"Which mean that our copycat had accesses to that report."

"I got something" Tony said as he walks in. "I found my cell. I left it at EJ. A lot of miss calls, only one worth mentioning from a few days ago."

Tony turn up the volume on his phone that they could all here. "Hey Tony, it's Danny. Long time no speaks and I understand why. I've been thinking about things lately. I just…There was more to what happen that night. We need to talk."

"McGee, check Danny's phone records. Perhaps he had talk to his killer."

McGee quickly worked, pulling up the phone records up on the plasma. There was three phone numbers on the short list of number. He highlights the first number. "This is a call Price receive the night before he was murder. It lasted about five minute."

"Who was the caller?" Tony asked.

"Linda Kim." Tim said, carefully watching his partner. He could almost swear he could see the pins and wheel turn in his partner head. "She told us that she had seen or spoken to Price since he was kicked out of her office building."

"Well, maybe she just forgot to mention it." Tony said quickly coming to her defense.

"Bring her in." Gibbs said to McGee and Ziva.

"Boss, you know she couldn't have done this." McGee and Ziva stop to watch the interaction between the two men. This has been the second time they have seen Tony defy their boss and it was for the same woman. "She doesn't have the information to put this on the Port to Port Killer."

"She's the DA. She works with the police and she could have gotten the report easily," said Ziva.

"Go bring her in." Gibbs said once more. McGee and Ziva quickly left to the elevator. They knew better than to have Gibbs repeat himself a third time.

"Gibbs—"

"DiNozzo, you are too close to this."

"Are you benching me?"

"Yes," Gibbs didn't say anything else to his senior field agent. He just walked away. He had to go update Vance about the new lead.

* * *

It has been a few rough days for him and he hope now things can start settling down now. He sat down on his couch with his TV dinner and a bottle of beer. He took a small drink from his bottle and felt himself relax. His moment of relaxation didn't last too long. His partner busted into through the door. "Were you born in a barn? It's freezing out. Close the door."

"DA said that we have enough to get a murder conviction against Floyd."

"You came all this way to tell me this?"

"I stop by the hospital after we caught Floyd. I talk to Linda and she saw something that I didn't see. Something I pretended not to see in Floyd's eyes when you got the drop on him." Tony said through his seething anger.

"And what's that?"

"Betrayal," Tony answered, "because he knew you."

"Tony—"

Tony pulled out his gun. "Linda saw your tattoo. I thought that maybe I was wrong so I pulled up your phone records. Fifteen calls in the last two months. I know there are plenty of ways to explain that right? But there is only one reason not mention it."

"What's that?"

"Because you're a dirty cop," Tony answered once more.

"Come on." Danny said as if what Tony was accusing him of was ridiculous.

"Be very careful because I'm not feeling the love right now." Tony said pointing the gun at Danny.

"Okay," Danny said. He knew he was caught. "I was sending potential clients in Floyd direction. If they laundry money through him, I got a kick back."

"And breaking into my home?"

"I was just trying to get you to back off of Floyd. Linda wasn't supposes to be hurt. We were just supposed to rough her up a bit to give you the message. The thug I hired got upset and so I did the only thing I could think of. I hurt Linda some more so I could save her life. I know how much she means to you."

Tony pushed Danny back down on the couch and shoved the gun in his face. "Yeah, you knew how much she means to me and so you beat her. I could have left things go if you had rough me up but you attacked her. You made me watch and you threaten to kill her."

"Thing just got out of hand."

There was loud creak by the door and he turned to see that it was Agent Gibbs. He had his hands up in the air and slowly took a step closer to them. "You followed me?"

"Nope," Gibbs said calmly.

"How long did you know?" Tony said thinking back to everything the man had said in the past few weeks.

"I didn't."

"Just a hunch," Tony said, turning the gun back to Danny. "What are you going to do?"

"He is your partner." Gibbs said as if Tony didn't have a gun in his partner's face.

"Yeah, what am I going to do?" Tony knew that whatever was going to happen next was his decision now.

"Think about what Linda would do." Tony knew what she would do. He knew what he had to do now.

* * *

**AN: Sorry about taking so long to update but I needed to edit this chapter a lot. I am got this case all written and wrapped up, I just don't know how to end it. Hope you all enjoy and review.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Gibbs sat in his chair staring at the Asian woman and her lawyer. He studied her face and saw that she was calm. Gibbs laid the pictures of the dead man in front of her. He saw her expression slightly change. "You are both lawyers so you two both know how this looks. You have no alibi. You admit it yourself that you hated the man for beating you. You also work with Baltimore polices and could have easily got the report on the Port to Port Killer."

"I can argue that same thing about Agent DiNozzo." Will retorted.

"Yeah but unlike your client, Tony actually feel some remorse over Danny's death."

"Because he doesn't know everything," Linda quickly snapped at Gibbs statement.

"What doesn't Tony know?"

"My client doesn't need to answer that."

* * *

"Do you think she did it?" McGee asked Ziva.

"The evidence doesn't look good for her." Ziva answered.

"Yeah, but do you think she killed him."

"No," Ziva finally answered after thinking about it for a while. She didn't know why she believed the Asian woman was innocent. She understood how anger drives a person to kill. "Do you think she killed him?"

"No, and I don't think that Gibb think she did either. Tony doesn't believe she killed him and Gibbs trust Tony."

"Then why—"

Tony walked into the room. "You shouldn't be here, Tony."

"McGee, I like you so I'm going to pretend you didn't say anything to me." Tony said never taking his eyes from Linda.

* * *

"You called him the night before he was murder. You said that he was harassing you so do you want to tell me why you called him?"

"I was out drinking that night. I must have drunk a little too much and called him by accident." Linda said quietly

"This call lasted five minute. So what did you talk to him about?"

"I want to talk to Tony." Linda said blinking back the tear.

"Ms. Kim, Agent DiNozzo is no longer apart of this investigation."

"I'll tell him everything. Just let me speak to him alone."

Before anyone could say anything on either side of the mirror, Tony walked into the interrogation home. Tony did not care if he broke Gibbs rule. Linda looked up at Tony with watery eyes and a sheepish smile.

Gibbs stood up and looked at his Senior Field Agent. He had been in his shoes before with his mother-in-law. Gibbs had bended the rules and taken the laws into his own hands a few times to get the justices that he thought was fit. DiNozzo had always had his six and he would do the same now. Gibbs left the room.

"Please, Will. I need to talk to Tony alone." Will hesitantly stood up. He gently kissed Linda on the forehead. He gave Tony a glare before leaving the two ex-lovers alone. "I didn't kill him."

"I know." Tony said as he sat down. He took Linda's hand in his and gently rubbed circle into the back of her hand. "I need to know, what did you talked to Danny about the night you called him."

"I honestly did not remember making that phone call that night until Gibbs told me about it. I was so drunk."

"Linda—"

"I'm not trying to be difficult. I barely remember making that call and I can just assume what I said to him." Linda took a deep breath. "Does May 14 mean anything to you?"

Tony recognized it as the date the phone called was mad but other than that the date was meaningless. "No, should it mean something."

"It should but I never got a chance to tell you." Linda said so lowly that the microphones could barely pick it up. "That was my due date."

"What?" Tony was confused.

"I was five weeks pregnant." Linda said as the tears leaked out. "I was going to tell you that night but…I had a miscarriage. After you arrested Danny, I knew you felt so guilty about what happened. You broke up with me because you blamed yourself for my attack. I saw how much everything was weighing on you and I could add more baggage. I made Ducky promise to never tell you." Tony slammed his fist down on the table and walk out.

Tony was fuming. He didn't know who he was more upset at: Danny for causing the whole miscarriage, Gibbs for suspecting Danny but never saying anything, Linda for never telling him, or Ducky who knew about it this whole time but never saying anything about it. Tony found himself in autopsy, in front of the man that man he had trusted with his fiancé.

"How could you not tell me?" Tony asked the older man. Ducky was sitting at his desk. He slowly turned in his chair to look at Tony.

Ducky slowly took off his glass and began cleaning it. He wasn't ready to look Tony in the eyes. "So she finally told you."

"You knew all these years and you never told me." Gibbs walked into the room, seeing Tony more anger than the time he confronted Danny. Tony turned to Gibbs. "Did you know about this too?"

"No, I did not."

"I guess that I wasn't the only one Ducky was keeping this from." Tony turned back to the elderly man. "In all the years we worked together, you told me hundreds of your stories and a ton of useless information, you didn't think about telling me this one fact that you knew I would care about."

"I wanted to. God, I want to tell you that you were making the biggest mistake of your life by leaving that woman in her time of need. I wanted to tell you about the lost child you never got a chance to know." Ducky got up and took a step towards Tony. "She was my patient. What happened is protected by doctor/patient confidentiality. I carried this secret with me all these years because if you had known then you would have put all the guilt on yourself."

"That was my burden to carry."

Ducky cut him off before he could say anymore. "No, it wasn't. Danny, Floyd and those other men were the guilty one. They were the one hurt Linda. Ari was the one who shot Kate in the head. It was the suicide bomber who killed Paula. Jenny manipulated you with Jeanne. Jenny ordered you to leave her. You couldn't have saved that little girl in Baltimore. Ziva being in Somalia wasn't your fault. Your mother was depressed. None of this was your fault but you would have put the blame on yourself. Linda knew this and that is why she made me promise to never tell you."

Tony finally looked pass his anger and finally saw the elderly man. He saw that Ducky looked much older than he was. He saw the man who had taken care of him whenever he had the simple cold to having the plague. This was the man who was the closest thing he had to a grandfather. Tony was lucky to have such a man in his life. "I'm sorry Ducky."

"When you first join NCIS, Linda called me and asked me to take care of you because you never know how to take care of yourself. I would have done so even if she didn't ask."

"Wait, Linda called you?" Tony asked.

"Yes," Ducky answered, totally confused. Tony had seemed to lost anger and was thinking about other things.

"There were three numbers when Tim pulled up Danny's phone records, one incoming call from Linda and one coming call to me." Tony turned to Gibbs. "Linda said she was drunk and the date had been important. What if Linda had told Danny about the miscarriage? Danny was trying to make amends. Danny said that there was more to what happened that night. We always said that Floyd couldn't have done it alone and we always just assumed that Danny was his partner. What if there was a third person?"

* * *

**AN: I'm working on how to end this. Tell me what you want to see happen. Review!**


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